HILO, Hawai'i — The polite ones said it was a miscarriage of justice, that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals misunderstood the purpose of Kamehameha Schools.

The blunt ones said that what's happening is selfish grasping and that they are witnessing an organized effort by some non-Hawaiians to seize what belongs to Hawaiians.

About 120 supporters of Kamehameha Schools' embattled Hawaiians-first admissions policy rallied on Kamehameha Avenue in Hilo yesterday afternoon to the sound of the blaring horns from passing traffic.

"I think people just want to get in, and they see the advantage for the Hawaiian kids, and they want a piece of the pie, basically," said Roland Luga, a Hilo resident who has two children attending the Kapalama campus on O'ahu.

"They took so much from the Hawaiian people, and now they want the Hawaiians to pay for their education."

The row of protesters gathered in response to a federal appeals court ruling Tuesday that struck down Kamehameha Schools' practice of giving admissions preference to students of Hawaiian blood.

Virtually everyone at the Hilo protest seemed to support the school trustees' plan to appeal the issue to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.

Despite the finding by the appeals court that the will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop does not specifically require that admission be limited to Hawaiian children, Luga said he believes the princess meant it that way.

"She wanted to pick up the people of Hawaiian blood and educate them so they can better themselves and get stronger, instead of dwindling away," he said.

After hearing about the appeals court ruling, Kamehameha Schools alumna Gail Makuakane-Londin helped organize yesterday's rally.

A 1973 graduate of Kamehameha, she believes that the federal government historically failed to meet its responsibilities to Hawaiians, and said she is now watching as court challenges dismantle what little has been done to help her people.

John Kai, a former University of Hawai'i regent who has two sons attending Kamehameha's campus in Kea'au, said he is upset that the government would step in and stop a person's last will from being carried out.

Speaking over the blaring horns from supporters, Big Island campus Headmaster Stan Fortuna Jr. said the protest "is very important, it's pono, we're at the beginning of a very, very important struggle."

Fortuna oversees a campus with 1,120 students in kindergarten through the 12th grade. He said there is far more work to be done to fulfill the school's mission of improving the well-being of Hawaiians.

"We have literally thousands and thousands of Hawaiian children who are yet to benefit from the largess of Pauahi," he said.